Published

Archie Comics TV Show ‘Riverdale’ Coming To Fox

Comic book adaptations just won’t quit and this time they’re coming for everyone’s favorite redhead — Archie from Archie Comics.

Greg Berlanti, who does Arrow and The Flash for The CW and has signed on to do the upcoming Supergirl TV show over at CBS, is producing with Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa — Chief Creative Officer of Archie Comics Inc. — writing. The TV show adaptation will be called Riverdale, which is the name of Archie’s hometown in the comics. According to Deadline, a script deal has been landed at Fox.

Riverdale will be a live-action adaptation of Archie Comics publications and will reportedly be a “bold, subversive take on Archie, Betty, Veronica and their friends, exploring the surreality of small-town life — the darkness and weirdness bubbling beneath Riverdale’s wholesome façade.” Archie Comics centers around Archie Andrews and the two women eternally vying for his attention — the blonde sweetheart Betty Cooper and the black-haired socialite Veronica Lodge. The Archie-Betty-Veronica love triangle has been a pop culture staple since the ’40s.

Archie Comics recently published Afterlife with Archie in which the citizens of Riverdale find themselves in the midst of a zombie apocalypse after Jughead, Archie’s best friend, gets bit by his zombified dog. Could zombies and other supernatural forces be the “darkness” and “weirdness” referred to above? After all, Sabrina the Teenage Witch exists in the same universe as Archie and his friends; she’s the one responsible for turning Jughead’s dog into a zombie. (Note: I was a fan of Afterlife with Archie, which is much more mature than your average Archie Comic, and I would highly recommend it to comic book readers who are interested in well-written horror.)

There was a short-lived animated series in the early 2000s called Archie’s Weird Mysteries, as well, in which Archie and his friends had to fight B-movie monsters including giant ants, a swamp creature, and UFOs.

Aguirre-Sacasa spoke with CNN and said the TV show will be inspired by David Lynch’s Twin Peaks and Blue Velvet. He also said that the characters in Riverdale will look contemporary. Archie, in particular, will look “buff and muscular.” Jughead, however, will keep his iconic paper crown; Aguirre-Sacasa compared him to Donnie Darko. Meanwhile, Veronica’s family will move to Riverdale because of a financial scandal. In the interview, Aguirre-Sacasa says he wants to explore the characters’ complexities.

What do you think of an Archie Comics TV show? Are you Team Betty or Team Veronica? Let me know in the comments below!